Red Hook is red hot right now! Just last year, obituaries were practically being written for the neighborhood, but then The Real World moved in, IKEA took over, and now The NY Times is reporting that a high school drama is being filmed there. Part Laguna Beach, part Gossip Girl, the show is titled Red Hook High and it's shining yet another, albeit grittier, spotlight on the community.
The show is being shot on location, and the characters include "the immigrant, the pregnant girl, the gay guy," earning it the title of the anti-Gossip Girl. All of the actors are local teens, most of whom attend(ed) South Brooklyn Community High School in Red Hook, and the episodes are unscripted (though the actors were given story outlines and character profiles).
Mr. Vu said the students were often acting out the dramas in their own lives. “It’s definitely skirting the line between drama and documentary,” he said, “but staying firmly on the line of drama."
"Red Hook is historically a rough neighborhood. The decisions these kids have to make are the kinds of decisions a lot of kids don’t have to make.”
The pilot will screen this week at the NY Television Festival, and the Village Voice is declaring this could be just the "grit" that the borough needs to balance out the "glamour" it'll be getting from that MTV show.
